The Founding of Happiness
by Healer Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC! Time travel!
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter!
The examiner from the Ministry, whom Harry disliked on the first glance, was a half dwarf named Professor McKenzie. He had to be around one hundred years old, had an unsympathetic face, and a high, childish voice, which reminded Harry strangely of Professor Flitwick.
"Harry Potter, sixteen years old," Professor McKenzie read with an expression of disbelief planted on his face. "You believe you're able to become a Potions Master?"
"Yes sir," Harry replied firmly, turning his eyes to his father, who sat next to the professor staring in front of himself with an unreadable expression. 'This man obviously hates me already. I wonder why?' he mused as he prepared himself to fight for his mastery.
Without any other introduction, the man began with the theoretical test, which to Harry's surprise was an oral test. Too busy to even glance at his father once during the morning session, Harry was unaware of the anger appearing on Salazar's face as the examiner continued to quiz Harry without a minute break for more than two hours. He didn't even comment on his replies or commend the boy for a brilliant answer.
'Oh no!' Harry thought. 'This is much more difficult than I had ever expected. I'm not sure about that question. Maybe I got that one wrong,' he thought as the professor continued on to the next question without pause.
After four hours of questioning Harry, the examiner rose from his seat. "Dismissed. Your practical exam will commence in exactly one hour." With that the man left the room.
Harry put both arms on the desk in front of him, laying his head down in absolute exhaustion. "I failed, didn't I, Dad?" he breathed.
"Thunderbolt, you were fantastic," Salazar replied, gently laying both hands on Harry's shoulders. "Everything you said was absolutely correct. Now let's go home. Come on, Thunderbolt. You need to eat something, and I'll give you a Pepperup potion, so you'll be fit to begin again in an hour."
Harry wearily followed his father into their quarters, glad that no one else was in the living room except for his mother, who had obviously been waiting for him. Merely eating a few bites of his lunch, Harry downed three glasses of pumpkin juice, noticing that the permanent answering of questions had made him very thirsty. Half heartedly listening as his father angrily explained how the examiner had conducted the test, he let himself sink into Helga's arms, tiredly closing his eyes.
A very short while later, his mother gently woke him up. "Wake up, Leofost. It's time for your next exam," she softly whispered into his ear.
"Ah, all right," Harry replied, thinking, 'Oh well, at least I'll be able to brew on my own without that man's input.'
"Mr. Potter, you will brew the potion for dragon's pertussis," the examiner greeted him.
'All right; that I know,' Harry mused, quickly assembling the ingredients in his head before he went to gather everything he needed. The dragon's pertussis was an extremely dangerous and contagious magical illness, causing its victim to cough up green flames accompanied by breathing problems and a high fever. The potion was the only one to cure the illness and in turn changed the actual illness in a manner that would no longer be infectious.
Knowing that the brewing would take nearly four hours, Harry instantly set to work, trying to ignore the examiner's sharp eyes that were trained on him continuously throughout the setup and brewing. Fortunately, due to the short nap in his mother's arms and the Pepperup potion his father had made him drink right before the test, Harry felt extremely alert and was fully able to concentrate on the task ahead.
Three hours and forty-five minutes later, he placed a phial with the dark green potion on the examiner's desk, relieved to know that he had managed to brew the potion flawlessly.
As soon as Harry had placed the phial on the desk, however, the tiny man jumped from the pile of books he used to be able to look over the table, making Harry jump backwards in surprise at the sudden movement. Unfortunately, he stumbled against his cauldron that tilted, causing the remaining potion to leak all over his hands and arms as he tried to keep the cauldron from falling off the table.
Looking up to throw his father a terrified look, Harry noticed that the examiner left the room with a contented smirk on his face.
Salazar waved his wand, banishing the remainders of the potion from Harry's hands and arms, giving him a sharp look. "Thunderbolt, you should have known better than being so careless. You know what might happen since you were exposed to the potion without reason?"
"Yes, of course I know, I can catch the dragon's pertussis," Harry replied in a small voice, "and knowing that I usually catch everything around me, I'll more than likely get it. Do you know how long the incubation time is?"
"We will have to ask your mother," Salazar replied after pondering the matter for a moment while he filled the remaining potion from the cauldron into small phials. "At least this will still work as antidote," he mumbled, pocketing the phials, before he cleaned Harry's workspace with a flick of his wand. "Let's go home. We need to speak with your mother, and I'm going to make a trip to the Ministry to discuss the examiner's behaviour."
"It's all right, Dad. I managed to do my exam today, and I'll be able to keep up with him during the next four days. I'd just like to know why he hates me so much," Harry replied sadly.
"I hope you'll be able to attend the rest of your exams at all," Salazar mumbled as he strode ahead into their quarters, suddenly turning around to face Harry. "The reason, and the sole reason, for his obvious dislike towards you is your age. In his opinion you're still a child and not able to become a Potions Master."
The following day passed in the same manner as the day before. Harry managed to answer all the questions and brew a flawless potion. His parents and Madam Pomfrey had made him wear invisible safety gloves, covering his hands and arms, just to be on the safe side. Salazar had spoken with the Ministry, only to hear that no other examiner was available at the moment.
Everyone was observing Harry in concern, knowing that he'd probably come down with the dragon's pertussis since he seemed to catch every illness he was exposed to.
"I have no idea why his immune system is so weak. We raised him in a normal, healthy way, he received the same immunizations as all our children, and he doesn't have any allergies so far that we know of," Helga sighed as she had tea together with Poppy and Godiva in Salazar's and her quarters, while they were waiting for Harry to return from his second day of testing.
"I'm not sure of course, but could it have something to do with his flashing through time every now and then?" Poppy queried thoughtfully. "The flashing seems to take a lot of physical and magical energy out of him, and considering that he needs a headache potion each time he flashes his body doesn't seem to take it well."
"That could be the reason indeed," Helga replied, alarmed. "It couldn't be helped, because even if we knew definitely that it was the reason, he'd still want to flash between here and the future, but it would at least be a plausible reason for the problems with his immune system.
"I'll speak with Severus about the matter. Maybe he or Salazar can invent a potion for Harry to help with his problems," Poppy suggested, just when Salazar and Harry entered the room.
"Such a git," Harry growled with gritted teeth as he let himself sink on the sofa next to his mother in exhaustion.
"Thunderbolt did very well though. So far, he has brewed everything correctly, and his answers to all of the questions have been perfect," Salazar explained, seeing that everyone was watching his son in concern.
"Oh no," Helga groaned when Harry let out a few harsh coughs. "Are you getting sick, Leofost?"
"I don't know, but I don't feel so good," Harry replied, turning his eyes to his mother. "May I go and lie down for a while?"
"Of course," Helga replied worriedly, throwing Poppy, who had just waved her wand over Harry, a questioning look.
"Yes, it's the dragon pertussis," Poppy confirmed, handing Helga a small phial.
ハリーと幸せの願い
By the time Harry had to get up for the third test day, he was already spiking a high fever and had a terrible cough. However, when his mother tried to make him stay in bed, he put up a huge fight.
"No Mum, I'm going to show this git that he can't easily manoeuvre me out of the exam. I will continue with the test until it's finished," Harry said firmly, coughing up a few green flames. "Everyone here in the castle has been taking the antidote, so they'll all be all right, and I don't care if the git gets the dragon pertussis from me. It's his fault anyway."
"That's true," Salazar agreed, and knowing that her husband was with her son the whole time, Helga grudgingly allowed Harry to attend his exam.
Unfortunately, Professor McKenzie was very displeased to have a coughing and obviously sick student in his presence and behaved even worse than he had during the first two days. A few times, Harry wasn't able to reply to a question immediately due to a coughing fit, but the professor didn't wait until he finished coughing but marked the question with zero points and proceeded to the next question without giving Harry a chance to reply.
"Thunderbolt, don't fret about that. The Ministry will be informed about it, and I'm sure they're going to include my notes into the final grading. Just lie down and rest, so you'll be as fit as possible for the practical test this afternoon."
Harry struggled through Wednesday and Thursday. He felt absolutely horrible but was determined to get through the exams instead of postponing them. However, on Friday morning, his condition had worsened so much that Helga and Poppy both declared him unfit to attend the exam.
Harry just turned to the wall and silently began to cry, feeling too bad to even protest.
"What's wrong?" suddenly Salazar's voice filled the room. "I have pleasant news."
Harry turned around, blearily looking at his father, who continued happily, "Professor McKenzie has come down with the dragon pertussis and is unable to come to Hogwarts today. Therefore, I have been appointed as the examiner, and you, Helga, as our healer, have been approved as second witness to the exam."
"Salazar, Harry is too ill to take the test today," Helga filled him in quietly.
"Ah, nonsense. Give him the strongest fever reducer you have, and he'll manage. We can do the theoretical test here if you want, so Thunderbolt doesn't even have to get up."
Helga grudgingly agreed, and Salazar conducted the last theoretical part of the exam in a much more slowly and reasonable way than the other examiner had done earlier. For the afternoon test, he chose the wolvescure potion, knowing that Harry could brew it in his sleep.
ハリーと幸せの願い
'Thank Merlin it's over,' Harry mused when he was back in his bed after brewing the wolvescure potion. He felt very grateful towards his father, who had made the last test day extremely easy for him. 'At least compared to the other git,' he thought.
"Congratulations, Thunderbolt," Salazar told him, entering the room. "You did extremely well in all parts of your exam. I just returned from delivering the results from today to the Ministry, and they assured me we'd have the final results by the end of next week."
"End of next week? But the first of September is on Monday," Harry replied in confusion.
"Well, yes, but you don't think you'll be allowed to flash in your condition, do you? You're going to have to stay in bed for at least a week, and then you'll stay here for another week to rest and regain your strength, and only when your mother and Poppy are sure you're well enough to flash will you be allowed to leave."
ハリーと幸せの願い
Helga and Poppy had used the quiet of the summer holidays to teach each other and Godiva Healing spells, charms, and practices that were unknown in the time of the Founders or lost in the future. During the week Harry was stuck in bed, the three of them took turns staying with him, trying to ease his symptoms to make him more comfortable.
'It's great if Godiva studies both, Healing of this time and of the future,' Harry mused, knowing from his own experience that his girlfriend would make a brilliant Mediwitch once she finished her studies.
It was nearly three weeks into the school year, when Harry was finally allowed to flash back to the future. He gathered Poppy and Godiva in his room early in the morning, trying to concentrate on the morning of his birthday in the future. 'I wonder what Minerva wants from me,' he mused but vehemently pushed the thought away to concentrate on arriving at the correct time with his passengers.
"Harry, thank you so much for taking me to the past with you," Poppy said gratefully, handing Harry his headache potion as he confirmed with a glance at his calendar that they had arrived at the correct time.
"You're welcome. My mother was very pleased to have you there," Harry replied, smiling at his girlfriend as he gently patted Löwi's head.
"Harry, stay here and rest for a moment," Poppy instructed him, motioning Godiva to remain with her boyfriend. "I'm going to find Minerva and ask her where she wants to speak with you."
Harry threw the healer a confused look but nodded, knowing that his mother had asked Poppy and Godiva to make sure he rested as much as possible. 'I know that I only just overcame a dangerous illness, but they're really too overprotective,' he mused as he gently took Godiva into his arms, carefully moving his hands over the soft curves of her body.
"Don't worry, sweetie. Minerva wouldn't make you come back earlier from your holidays to give you bad news. It'll be something good, I'm sure," she said softly, before she leaned over and pulled him into a long kiss.
They only parted when the door opened and Poppy re-entered the room, unable to hide a small smile. "I'm sorry to disturb you; however, your presence is required in the Great Hall."
"All right," Harry replied and stood up, pulling Godiva with him down to the Great Hall. He hesitantly opened the door, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw the Hall was beautifully decorated for a birthday party, just like he had already had in the past nearly two months earlier.
"I thought Minerva wanted to speak with me. Don't tell me we only came back for a birthday party," he said in confusion, throwing Poppy a questioning look.
"No, I know by chance what Minerva wants to discuss with you, and I believe she wanted to combine your talk with a birthday party. She'll probably take you aside soon to discuss what it is she has in mind," Poppy reassured him, smiling as she gently pushed Harry and Godiva in the room, where not only the teachers, but also Harry's friends were waiting for them.